Imagination 。
by exhaustion
Summary: Because, if Kagome closed her eyes, she could imagine that the blonde hair was longer and white, that on top on his head where two fluffy dog years which she just loved to touch. She could imagine that Minato was InuYasha.


**Imagination**  
>written by <span>exhaustion.<span>  
>One-shot.<br>Rated T.  
>Warning: no smut, no 'fluffiness'— just two people naked of all dreams and goals.<br>Summary: Because, if Kagome closed her eyes, she could imagine that the blonde hair was longer and white, that on top on his head where two fluffy dog years which she just loved to touch. She could imagine that Minato was InuYasha.

O O O

Nightmare. Nothing but fiction, a bunch of delusive appearances, conceived to relentlessly torture her mind until...until she gave up. One of these days, she will wake up and believe that the past had been nothing but a dream. However, the extant scars kept that day away.

She claimed to be a miko. She had fought demons, stood her ground bravely, breathed life, loved—and now, here she was.

A shell of the girl that she once had been. She hadn't been a miko for five years. She hadn't done anything to be a miko. She mourned, for death marked her past.

Higurashi Kagome didn't acknowledge anybody, and nobody acknowledged her. She didn't take anything seriously, and she wasn't taken seriously.

In her heart, she would be forever the outgoing, naïve fifteen-year-old girl, not the twenty-year-old heartbroken woman. _Never the latter._

Higurashi Kagome lived in the past.

He had given her the chance to be a miko in five years.

She had impetuously escaped the cul-de-sac she had gotten lost in, she had breathed fresh air, because of one called Namikaze Minato. A blond-haired man, with blue eyes that made everybody stop and stare. She was no exception.

The miko had found him at the bottom of the well, and had hopelessly thought that he would've known something—_anything—_about her _ex-_companions, but ... he turned out to not be from the same world. The first thing he had said when he had woken—_after hours of her trying, and probably succeeding, to heal his wounds—_was something about 'konoha', which she had later learned that it was the abbreviation for 'Konohagakure no Sato'.

He was a ninja. She didn't believe him. He couldn't prove anything. She let him live with her.

At first, he was so much like InuYasha, impressed by every little thing ... so much that to her selfishness she enjoyed it. But time flew by, and his true face had been discovered.

He was nothing like InuYasha.

Minato was calm—_so calm that sometimes, only a little, it irked her, knowing that she could never be so tranquil. _After he healed fully, he didn't leave, and he had given her quite a good reason ("_I still don't really know anything about this world, and nobody will hire me because I have no education_"), and she couldn't say no. Frankly, she didn't want to say no.

He knew she was a miko. She was a miko in his eyes, more than she had been in anyone's eyes. She ... liked that. It saddened her that he was insane as to think that ninja existed.

And so, she had continued her life with the new addition.

One of these days found them standing at the base of the sacred tree Goshinboku, simply staring at the horizon, making small talk.

"Sometimes I find myself wondering who you truly are..." Her statement was followed by the inescapably form of speech, the silence. "...or who I am."

"I am—,"

"The ninja, right—and I'm the miko. But what if..." the raven-haired woman took a deep breath, "what if I'm just a suicidal insane girl...what if you're some psycho who needed an excuse to kill people and being a ninja seemed to be the best one? ...what if I'm correct?"

"I have no proof. But you—you said your family believed you."

"A parent would do anything to keep their child happy, even if it means feeding their insanity!"

A dark speech.

A light silence.

"I have a son."

"You have mentioned that beforehand."

"His name is Naruto," the blonde looked at the horizon line, "that's all I know about him."

The miko looked at him, trying to find an answer in his behaviour. "Why?" she asked, when she deemed the task as impossible.

"I died...to save the village I ruled."

"And...his _mother_?" No reaction, she had at least expected a flinch.

"She died with me," the answer was short and simple, void of any emotions.

"Why isn't she with you?"

"She passed on. People who sell their souls cannot go to heaven or hell." She didn't dare to ask what he meant by 'selling their souls'. Deep in her heart, she knew, Minato was behind salvation. He lived in a world of his own, where toads spoke and acted like humans.

"...if he's anything like you, Naruto is going to be an excellent man," the blue-eyed girl said, a smile etching on her lips. Perhaps, this Naruto character didn't even exist.

He turned to look at her and he smiled. Granted, it was a fake smile, but she greatly appreciated the effort, "I can only hope he's not like his mother...that would make his childhood worse," and a true smile replaced his grimace, followed by a chuckle.

_He loved his wife._

"And why is that?"

"A loudmouthed, ramen lover, talkative, cheerful, and with a very delicate temper girl, dubbed as the 'red hot-blooded habanero'. How does that sound?" A second later, the miko erupted into laughter—_true laughter, for the first time._

"It sounds that she's a girl very hard to not fall for," Kagome said and Minato laughed, too. "You know, InuYasha, my..." she trailed off; searching for an appropriate word to describe their relationship, and it didn't go unnoticed by Minato, "my companion, also loved red, ramen and was quite loud. Rather grumpy, not cheerful and talkative, but he was...fun to be around," her lips curled in a sorrowful smile.

_She loved her companion._

"If I could turn time back, I'd do everything differently," she added, "because I was just a fifteen year old girl who thought that the fairytale will never come to an end. But it did," a tear slid on her cheek, followed by another, and another, "I was so selfish, putting myself first...never seeing how Shippo needed a mother, how Sango and Miroku were meant to be, I could've done something, but..." she wiped her cheeks and looked at Minato, "but I didn't. I let them die!"

And for a reason unknown to both, he hugged her, and Kagome gripped his shoulders desperately, wetting his shirt with her tears. She let go of him, (_fully comprehending the_ _fact_ _that nothing good lasts)_ and stared into Minato's blue eyes that painfully resembled hers.

But so lively, the colour of the sky—_cerulean blue._

A light brush of their lips._ Their insanity has been sealed_.

Because, if Kagome closed her eyes, she could imagine that the blonde hair was longer and white, that on top on his head where two fluffy dog years which she just _loved _to touch. She could imagine that Minato was InuYasha.

Even though it hurt to think it was nothing but an one-sided love, Minato _went along _with it.

His affections would never be returned. _He was certain of that._

* * *

><p>Please review. If you spot any grammar mistakes, please point them out as well. Constructive criticism is welcomed.<p>

~ e x h a u s t i o n 。


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